Circular Poetry Contributor: Andrew Galan

This next contribution to the Letter.Box.Stamp.Collect. project is from performance poet Andrew Galan with his poem c.1932. Andrew says of the connection between the poem and the project:

As I travelled through the United States, United Kingdom and Spain from early-April to late-July this year I knew I would be returning home and possibly never visiting any of these countries again. So I carried notebooks into all the galleries and museums I visited. I could write notes about things I saw, jot down my reactions, record facts and concepts that interested me. I particularly enjoyed the thought of putting together poems based on series of artworks as I discovered them in different galleries. I also liked learning bits and pieces about the drivers behind artists and artistic movements. The note that, “chance…represented a release from the constraints of the rational world.” The note stating, “Realism became the point where art and propaganda met.” Another, “That substantial areas of the canvas have been left blank.” And, “A sense of the scene’s impact in the artist’s imagination…painting from memory rather than life was instrumental in achieving this.” I brought all these words home. This poem formed from one such reminder scrawled awkwardly into a notebook on level two of the Tate Modern in the UK.